1. We Are to Love One Another (Am I My Brother’s Keeper?) Lesson 1

2. The Goal of Our Series The goal of this series of lessons is to come to the understanding that as Christians we have been given the responsibility by God to look out for the well being of others, especially to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. That is, we have been given the task of: –providing for one another’s physical and spiritual needs –protecting one another from the schemes of the evil one –promoting the mutual growth of our faith.

3. The Foundational Story The Bible story that serves as a motivation for our study is found in Genesis (4:1-9). In response to Cain’s question we are going to discover, by way of a detailed examination of all the “one another” passages found in the New Testament, that we are indeed to be our brother’s keeper!

4. We Are to Love One Another In this first lesson of the series, we are going to discover the Bible teaches us we are to be our brother’s keeper because we are to love one another! This lesson will serve as a foundation upon which the remainder of the series will be built. And this should be the case because love is the most important thing! (Matthew 22:37-39; I Corinthians 13:13) Truly, if we have love for one another, we will desire to be our brother’s keeper in every possible respect; if, however, we don’t have this kind of love, we will be no better than Cain. (I John 3:11,12)

5. Our Lesson for Today The Description of Our Love for One Another The Demonstration of Our Love for One Another The Details of Our Love for One Another

6. The Description of Our Love for One Another Our Love for One Another Serves as: The Explanation of Our Existence The Essence of Who We Are The Expression of What We Are to Become The Emblem of God’s Love to the World The Embodiment of All We Hold Dear The Encouragement That Brings about Healing and Help

7. The Demonstration of Our Love for One Another Enduring Endless Energetic Endearing Engaging Engrossing Enlightening Enormous Enriching Enthusiastic Equalizing Evolving Established Even-handed Ethical Excellent

8. The Details of Our Love for One Another Loving one another is a direct command from our Lord. (John 13:34; 15:12,17; I John 3:23) Loving one another shows the world that we are true followers of Christ. (John 13:35) Loving one another fulfills God’s law for our lives. (Romans 13:8) Loving one another happens when we serve one another. (Galatians 5:13)

9. The Details of Our Love for One Another Our love for one another should always possess an element of forbearance. (Ephesians 4:2) Our love for one another should always be abounding. (I Thessalonians 3:12) Our love for one another should always be fervent. (I Peter 1:22; 4:8) Our love for one another shows that God abides in us. (I John 4:12)